Foreword: Loot Dungeon is basically a mod of Pixel Dungeon, an open-source rogue-like that I already played a while ago, but completely forgot about, while writing this review. Oops. Anyway, consider this review to also fit Pixel Dungeon.

There’s been a great number of rogue-like games that were somewhat okay, but finding the classic rogue-like experience is still a treat. Loot Dungeon offers just that, with just a couple of tweaks here and there.

There are four classes in the game, each one having subclasses, all of them quite varied and differ in a lot more than just starting stats and equipment. The game has a standard dungeon-crawling pattern. The player needs to storm through several levels and fight a final boss, finding loot, killing countless enemies, getting levels, and ultimately being killed by a man-eating plant or giant enemy crab or other murderous flora/fauna/furniture/ambiance. There are potions, scrolls, and equipment, all of which have to be identified, unless the player is willing to risk drinking what could be a potion of liquid death, or putting on a cursed set of armor.

The dungeon floors are not only filled with enemies, but contain various traps as well. These traps can burn, paralyze, poison, or make a number of different effects. The hero can also place some traps in the form of mutant vines, found along the level. Going through corpses or graves can also spawn driad-like spirits of vengeance that can take the unfortunate hero apart in a couple of turns. Basically, in Loot Dungeon, everything can, and certainly will, murder you, if you’re not attentive, strong, or simply lucky enough. And I wouldn’t take it any other way. And no, although it would take a while for new players to acquaint themselves with it, Loot Dungeon isn’t in any way more difficult or unfair to the players, than popular rogue-likes, so it’s still as interesting to create a new character on the twentieth run, as it is on the second.

The graphics and sounds are rather simple and cheap, but they are present, so it’s already a lot prettier than the classic rogue-likes. I didn’t have any difficulty with its controls or interface, and only have minuscule critique I don’t even want to mention. Overall, it’s a great, free, solid rogue-like experience for those who crave some old-school dungeon crawling.